Since the first BBC Food & Farming Award winners were revealed in 2000, the awards have been “highlighting the people who, through food, are changing Britain for the better” every year.
As a way to “honour those who have done most to promote the cause of good food”, winners can include farmers, shopkeepers, cooks in schools, hospitals and other public places, food producers, campaigners, market organisers, street food vendors and more.
Now, in 2023, the BBC Food & Farming Awards have announced their 2023 finalists – and our founder, Claire Ladkin, is one of them!
This year, the awards are made up of 10 categories, including Community Food Champion with Morning Live – the category Claire has been nominated for!
The Community Food Champion with Morning Live award is specifically for celebrating “true food heroes”, focusing on those working in food who are making a massive difference to their communities.
Claire has been selected as a finalist from a wide range of excellent applicants for founding All About the Cooks, an online marketplace that enables talented home-cooks to sell food to their local community
"I'm over the moon to have been shortlisted for the Community Food Champion Award as Founder of All About The Cooks. I am driven by the vision of a future where the sharing of home-cooked food within and between communities is commonplace. Where it is perfectly normal to order from a neighbour, pop round to collect and stop for a chat on the doorstep. I think that would be a nice world to live in. It's great to see that others seem to agree too!"
"I'm over the moon to have been shortlisted for the Community Food Champion Award. I am driven by the vision of a world where the sharing of home-cooked food within and between communities is commonplace. I think that would be a nice world to live in. It's great to see that others seem to agree too!"
In 2020, having been heavily involved in Bristol’s thriving food culture, Claire founded All About The Cooks.
Driven by a sense that food acts as a catalyst to bring people together, she launched the online marketplace where talented home-cooks can make money sharing food amongst their local community.
All the food sold through the platform is pre-ordered and delivery or collection is arranged directly with your cook. This doorstep interaction between neighbours enriches the whole experience beyond measure. Meeting the person who has cooked for you, or you have cooked for, helps us share our many cultures and enables us to strengthen communities.
75% of our cooks are female, and 80% are from ethnically diverse backgrounds. We are proud to have enabled them to earn their own money doing something they love in a way that hasn’t been easy before.
Our cooks decide what they cook, what they charge and when they work, empowering talented individuals to take ownership of their time and skills.
Working long hours in commercial kitchens can be incompatible with people’s lives, and can end up excluding incredible cooks from the food scene. We enable our cooks to sell their delicious food from home so their talent isn’t wasted.
As money changes hands within and between communities through the platform, it helps boost local economies. As of August 2023, operating in Bristol and Bath with over 70 cooks, All About The Cooks has put £80k into our home-cooks’ pockets.
We’re an ambitious team, backed by socially-conscious investors, with big plans to expand nationwide – bringing authentic, home-cooked food to every corner of the UK
Just click the button, pop in your postcode and see who’s selling food near you!
Just click the button, pop in your postcode and see who’s selling food near you!
I found out that All About The Cooks is looking for talented cooks all over the UK to make money cooking from home. I think you’d be great at this!
You can find out more here: allaboutthecooks.co.uk/become-a-cook/
We’re very proud that founder of All About The Cooks, Claire Ladkin, has been shortlisted as a Community Food Champion at the BBC Food & Farming Awards!
Our Bristol-born online marketplace for home-cooks is growing – Nick Davies and Will Hamilton join our advisory board!
For Refugee Week 2023, we look at how we’re making it easier for talented cooks from refugee and migrant backgrounds to enter the food industry!
It’s International Women’s Day 2023! Meet a few of our many amazing female cooks!
Try making Mireya’s vegan feijoada recipe for Veganuary this year.
